AICN HORROR looks at WAR OF THE WORLDS: THE TRUE STORY! AXE GIANT: THE WRATH OF PAUL BUNYAN! WOLF TOWN! 6 SOULS! TOWER BLOCK! BLOOD FOR IRINA! DETENTION OF THE DEAD! & behold…SHARKNADO!!!!!

Greetings, all. Ambush Bug here. This week AICN HORROR’s got it all. We have flying sharks, vengeful giants, a vampire hooker, hillbilly witches, a ferocious pack of wolves, alien invaders, a psychopathic sniper, and of course, zombies! But before we do that, there’s this!

I reviewed FAMILIAR, an extremely horrific little slice of body horror and told you all that I’d let you know when this short film was available to the masses. And now it is. FAMILIAR premieres today on FEARnet, so be sure to check it out. Check out FEARnet’s website for more details!

Another short film I reviewed a while back was COUGARS by Lonnie Martin. Well, Martin is back with another offbeat horror comedy called THE MATCHMAKER. The film is about two morticians in love and the corpse that helps bring them together. Sounds like something I’d want to check out. Unfortunately, the sound of the film was messed up and needs to be looped and sounded and all kinds of other technical sound stuff I don’t understand. Unfortunately still, Martin and Co. don’t seem to have the funds to finish the film, so they’re trying to round up a measly $2000.00 to get this one in the can. Check out their crowdfunding IndieGoGo page and give this talented filmmaker a shot to finish up this film. Below is the teaser for the film.

Finally, check out this exclusive AICN HORROR clip for THE DARKEST NIGHT which is set to be available on DVD on July 16th! From Brain Damage Films. Here’s the official synopsis; A family gathers for a happy reunion and marriage announcement on Christmas Day at an isolated mansion in the Philippine mountains, only to encounter a series of bizarre, demonic and tragic events.

Not sure if you caught it on ScyFy, but AXE GIANT: THE WRATH OF PAUL BUNYAN has been unleashed. The film made its way in a limited theatrical run in some choice towns before coming to DVD. Now all of us can splash around in the gory fun that is this frikkin’ movie.

One of my issues with films that have these ScyFy premieres like SWORDSHARK or SQUIDGATOR or whatever, is that the film tries to be a super-blockbuster, while the actors on board treat it like Shakespeare, but the story never matches the potential of the kooky title. But that’s basically the formula of many an old horror film, many of which I consider classics and watch and rewatch to this day. The thing that makes those ScyFy style films unwatchable are the god awful scripts. With AXE GIANT: THE WRATH OF PAUL BUNYAN, it finally feels as if these types of films are getting a little smarter. A little…

According to the legend, Paul Bunyan was a giant whose axe carved the Grand Canyon and whose blue ox was as big as him and went by the name of Babe. But what we all didn’t know was that good old Paul looked like a giant reject from TROLLHUNTER and was actually quite a big bastard. When a hungry group of frontiersmen kill Babe for dinner, it pisses off Bunyan royale. Leap forward to modern times and we have a group of youngsters being forced to take part of an outdoors training camp to avoid prison time in the same woodlands Bunyan hung up his axe. The annoying group of miscreants deface the grave of Bunyan’s favorite ox friend and evoke the giant’s wrath. Which is why Bunyan is all wrathful in the title of the movie…get it?

What makes this film ballz out fun is the over the top gore and the super-fun cast. First, the gore. This film doesn’t hold back in the axe-hackery department as Bunyan lops off heads, limbs, and torsos with one mighty swing. It’s all rendered in the crudest of special effects that border on animation, but the sheer glee in which the blood splatters in this film make it pretty damn fun and made me forgive the crude CG. There’s a lot of gore here to enjoy from start to bloody finish.

The cast is the film’s second big asset as not only do we get the legendary Dan GRIZZLY ADAMS Haggerty playing the role of one of the hunters who killed the ox in the past, but we also have Joe Estevez (Martin Sheen’s brother) chewing up the scenery and not coming up for air as a Crazy Ralph style character possessing the knowledge of the legend of the giant and full of warnings for the kids to scamper back to the city. Of course, they don’t go, otherwise we wouldn’t get gratuitous boobage and bodies for Paul to bisect.

I can’t help but tout AXE GIANT: THE WRATH OF PAUL BUNYAN as big, dumb fun. I laughed quite a bit at the over the top gore, the fun script, and seeing both Haggerty and Estevez straining those acting muscles of theirs. This film has that type of fun vibe that you wish would be in those other ScyFy films. I love the film’s titles, but that’s usually where the fun stops. With AXE GIANT: THE WRATH OF PAUL BUNYAN, the fun rolls on through from start to finish as it ends in a KING KONG/FRANKENSTEIN-esque mob chasing the big beast through the forest. Don’t expect your brain to be stimulated much here, but nevertheless this movie was a whole lot of fun.

New this week on DVD & BluRay!

BLOOD FOR IRINA (2013)

Directed by Chris Alexander Written by Chris Alexander Starring Shauna Henry, Carrie Gemmell, David Goodfellow, Andre Becker, Jason Tannis Find out more about this film on Facebook here! Reviewed by Ambush Bug

Reminiscent Jean Rollin’s art house she-vampire films such as LIVING DEAD GIRL and REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE, those who prefer their vampires on the more artsy fartsy side will have a lot to like with BLOOD FOR IRINA. But if you prefer action oriented or twinkling style vamps, you’re going to be bored to tears by this one.

Personally, I fall in-between these two camps. I can appreciate the Rollin-esque take, making every nuance overly meaningful and melodramatic, but I like me some blood sucker action as well. So there were times during BLOOD FOR IRINA when I felt it did run on a bit long.

That said, I do feel that Chris Alexander is a talented guy and though his camera feels as if it needs a shot of Red Bull as it lingers on trash heaps, neon street lights, and the star vamp as she saunters out of her hotel room at night to prey upon the homeless and lonely, he does focus his lens on some really nice imagery throughout this hour long flick.

With some engrossing music playing throughout paired with some interesting sound effects, BLOOD FOR IRINA would fill any open minded blood sucker fan’s ears and eyes as it also offers a lot of fantastic imagery in its short screen time. I also liked the dank feel to the vampire lifestyle as Irina is definitely not leading the glamorous life of a vampire many films would lead you to believe. She lives more like a leech, leaving her hotel only to feed and coming back and vomiting up the blood. The story doesn’t delve too much into the vamp mythos, but this almost feels like a film about a woman who thinks she is a vampire rather than one who is one by the way her body rejects drinking the blood.

All in all, if you don’t mind wordless, art house films with a horror slant, BLOOD FOR IRINA is going to be something to seek out. It’s currently playing festivals. But be forewarned, if you lack the patience, this film could be quite an ordeal.

WOLF TOWN (2011)

Directed by John Rebel Written by Paul Hart-Wilden & Asabi Lee Starring Levi Fiehler, Max Adler, Alicia Ziegler, Josh Kelly, & a pack of wolves Find out more about this film on Facebook here Reviewed by Ambush Bug

I loved THE GREY. There was something primal and awesome about a group of people trapped and fighting not only the elements, but a pack of hungry wolves as well. Well, I happened upon this low budgeter called WOLF TOWN which was released not too long ago and while the film doesn’t pack enough wolf-punch to go toe to toe with THE GREY, it could serve as a fun little appetizer to lead into the film if you’re looking for a wolfy double feature.

WOLF TOWN focuses on a quartet of students that find themselves trapped in a town haunted by…you guessed it, wolves. The kids start out wanting to explore a nearby ghost town and end up fighting for their lives against a pack of wild beasts. In actuality, the whole reason for this trip is for a sheepish nerd named Kyle (Levi Fiehler) to get close to the spritely and nubile Jess (Alicia Ziegler). Friend Ben (Max Adler, who also stars in DETENTION OF THE DEAD reviewed below) tags along for moral support, but neither of the guys expect Jess to bring her jock genius prettyboy boyfriend Rob (Josj Kelly) along. All romantic plans are shattered when they stumble into a town filled with wolves.

Let me get the bad out of the way first. And the bad is two fold. One has to do with the story. The main problem here is that Kyle is so spineless, he is not a very likable character in the least, especially compared to Jess’ boyfriend Rob, who actually seems like a nice guy. By making the hero so fallible, you understand why Jess would pick Rob over him, and with Kyle trying so hard to sneak into Jess’ life, I found it really hard to root for these two to come together. Now, because the wolves come wolfing about, that conflict loses a lot of steam because survival takes precedence all of a sudden and since Kyle is afraid of wolves (and who isn’t), Rob steps up to be the hero.

The second problem is that they went with real wolves and while it’s awesome that they went this route, it also makes it feel a little less dangerous, especially when a pack of wolves are made up of only four wolves. The filmmakers chose to film the wolves from a distance, making them small in the panel most of the time and taking away what makes them scary. A few close up shots are done during the chomping scenes, but for the most part, the wolves just don’t feel that scary and it feels like the camera man, along with the kids, are keeping their distance from the furry critters.

That said, the acting is pretty good and there are some fun scenarios at work here. I like the idea of an abandoned town plagued by bloodthirsty wolves and feel that this story has a lot of potential that was only somewhat fulfilled. WOLF TOWN is flawed, but I have to give some props to a cool idea, some good acting, and some nice moments of wolfy carnage.

You know, I was all ready to hate this film. Usually horror films with stars of this caliber are duds, but it was the psychological themes mixed with backwoods hill magic played with in 6 SOULS that actually got me into it. Now, this isn’t a perfect film, but it’s more entertaining than I expected.

The strong cast helps. It’s always great to see Julianne Moore in genre style roles like this. I actually liked her performance as Clarice Starling in HANNIBAL and there are shades of that performance here as she plays a psychologist Cara Harding, whose claim to fame is that she debunks multiple personality cases. When her psychologist father (THE WALKING DEAD’s Jeffrey DeMunn) calls her in for a case at his psych hospital, he provides a case that challenges her steadfast theory that multiple personality disorder is a sham across the board. That case is a mystery patient David, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who is always pretty deadly looking and does so well here as a person suffering from numerous alters which begin to seep into Cara’s home life.

The part I liked the most about Moore’s character was the fact that she is a person who is so fragile that she is clinging to her theories and beliefs. When those theories are challenged, she doesn’t know what to do with herself. The film opens with Cara supporting her theories in court which leads to a man being executed. She deals with this by running to the nearest bar and getting shit faced post haste by downing shots of Tequila. I liked it that in the opening moments we see that this is a woman who wants to desperately to believe that she is accurate in her theories, but deep down has her doubts. Of course, this story brings those doubts to the surface and slaps her in the face with them.

I also loved the backwoods mysticism going on here. Turns out, David is actually a vessel for multiple souls, some of which aren’t too nice. While MPD has been used many times in films, this one takes a cool turn midway as Cara’s investigations into David’s alters take him to a backwoods community lead by a witch. There are some nice creative touches added here involving earth magic that felt icky and real.

Though it appears witches are the new vampires these days and I’m sure this film, which seems to have been made some time ago, was released now because of that trend, 6 SOULS has enough psychological and hillbilly magical factors to make it better than average. This is mainly due to the talented cast. There are some moments that inspire groan as Cara stumbles across a film which was made long ago, but feels as if it has modern day production values and also reveals crucial info at just the right and convenient dramatic time. Still, there’s a lot worse out there you could see than 6 SOULS.

TOWER BLOCK (2012)

Directed by Ronnie Thompson, James Nunn Written by James Moran Starring Sheridan Smith, Jack O’Connell, Russell Tovey, Kano, Ralph Brown Find out more about this film on Facebook here Reviewed by Ambush Bug

CITADEL (reviewed here), ATTACK THE BLOCK, JUDGE DREDD, and RAID: REDEMPTION. The one thing all of these films have in common is that they take place in skyscraping tenement housing for the poor and those of the criminal element. The other thing that they all have in common is that they’re all excellent films. TOWER BLOCK is another quality tenement thriller to add to that list.

Much more of a thriller than a true horror film, TOWER BLOCK does possess its fair share of shocks and scares. An apartment complex is being shut down with only the top floor residents holding out from relocation. As usual, this floor does not house the cream of the crop and is populated with abusive mothers, gang leaders, drug dealers, prostitutes, and of course, the old couple who sadly have no place else to go. In the middle of it all is Becky (Sheridan Smith), a single girl looking for the right guy in all the wrong bars. When Becky witnesses a murder in her hallway, she has little to tell the cops about it since the assailants were masked. One year later, a sniper from the building over begins picking off any residents that cross his sights with a high powered rifle, trapping the residents of the top floor of this high-rise and forcing them to come together in order to outthink the madman.

This film is about as tension filled as it gets. Constricted to one floor, the group is whittled down whenever anyone peeks their head up, forcing the neighbors to ban together and try to survive, but as the various attempts to escape fail and their numbers dwindling, the directors have set up a tense and claustrophobic piece of cinema that makes the building itself a horrific character in this film.

All of the acting here is top notch with Smith leading the way as the Sigourney Weaver-esque tough girl who still contains that sensitive side. Recognition should also go to the floor’s bully Kurtis (Jack O’Connell) who takes a collection fee every week so the resident’s stuff doesn’t get stolen. O’Connel adds layers to this role as his street smarts and basic need to look out for his own ass ends up keeping him alive. At the same time, as the trouble mounts, O’Connell switches and assumes leadership pretty well, giving a bit of three dimensionality to what would usually be played as a common thug.

What stands out is that all of it doesn’t feel like a hyped up action movie. Everyone and anyone could die here. The danger feels real as the snipers red beam from his sight dances along the tight corridor linking the apartments. TOWER BLOCK is about as white knuckle as they come and though the gore is in conservative amounts, the fear is definitely palpable and real, making this an altogether fantastic thrillride of a film.

Everyone is trying to cash in on the zom-com ride which recently was given a goose with ZOMBIELAND and was feebly attempted to be aped in WARM BODIES. Though personally, these films which make light of the zombie apocalypse take the bite out of zombie movies as a whole, there are some that are successful in straddling the line between making you scream one minute and laugh the next. For the most part, DETENTION OF THE DEAD is one of those films.

Boiled down to basics, this is BREAKFAST CLUB with zombies with a bunch of teen stereotypes (the nerd, the jock, the cheerleader, the goth outcast, another jock, and the newest and most annoying stereotype: the Asian druggie) locked in a room together and forced to not only survive the living dead outsides, but also come out of the experience of being trapped in a room with people they normally wouldn’t be caught dead with one another in the same space, but with the dead shambling around outside, they’re forced to. In the end, it’s a movie…about life, and living with one another despite differences.

Now, in order for this film to be effective, it has to a) be a good zombie movie, b) be funny, and most importantly, c) be a good riff on THE BREAKFAST CLUB. DETENTION OF THE DEAD does a decent job with a and b, but completely falls apart when they try to get serious and have the kids come to the revelations the kids came to in the original film. The scene where the nerd admits that he bought the gun to kill himself is painfully hard to watch mostly because unlike BREAKFAST CLUB, it doesn’t set the tone to be serious at all. In an attempt to make the film weightier, it actually sidetracked a decent farce. Numerous other times when drama is tried to be square-peg-round-holed into the film result in equally awkward moments. Maybe it was the actors being way too funny in the first portion of the film, but I think that would only make us care for them more. No, this feels more like a scripting blunder with the filmmakers realizing that they had to inject some heft in the back end of this film at the last minute. The result is an uneven film.

What works though, surprisingly, is the comedy. I laughed quite a bit here both at the interactions between the stereotypical teens as well as the over the top gore. There are some fun twists along the way as well as a rat monster shows up as they make their way through the air shafts. One of the teacher’s heads is kept around and played with sadistically. I also loved the way cast members keep returning after they’ve been devoured by the zombies and can’t seem to die. These over the top moments make this a really fun film to experience. The acting is also pretty good as these kids have been seen elsewhere such as TV shows like GLEE, so we aren’t scraping the bottom of the barrel as with other films of this type. This makes everyone all the more relatable and fun to watch.

Despite the feeble attempts as seriousness in the film, DETENTION OF THE DEAD is a fun spoof of THE BREAKFAST CLUB. The film’s one offense was not knowing which way to go with it, so they tried it both and wasn’t very successful. Had they gone full on spoof, I think this would have worked better as a film. Or had the drama been more evenly sprinkled, I think it even had the potential to work. By trying to cram it all in, it messed this up from being a truly great film. Still, there’s enough laughs and gore for me to give it a positive nod and recommend it to all of you to give it a try for a few solid laughs.

The best film I had the privilege of seeing this week was WAR OF THE WORLDS: THE TRUE STORY. Though found footage may be the first subgenre you’d want to set this one in, WOTW:TTS is actually more of a mockumentary than anything else. “Mock” being maybe not so accurate, as everything here is played seriously. Films like the bone-chilling LAKE MUNGO and the thrilling TROLLHUNTER come to mind when I think of this film, which plays everything as if what is playing out actually happened. It’s the authenticity of the filmmaking that will leave you wondering if all of this could have possibly happened.

WOTW:TTS tells the tale of Bertie Wells (played marvelously by Floyd Reichman), the sole survivor of a war between Earth’s military and an alien invasion circa 1900. Though what the film claims to be stock and aged footage recently released by the government, the film documents the discovery of a comet like object that crash landed outside of an English village and proved to house alien invaders from another planet. After the first encounter with a bizarre alien beast, more comets rain down and let loose giant war machines that bellow out rays disintegrating all those that cross their paths. You know, exactly like H.G. Wells novel and the 1953 movie by the same name.

So much detail is put into fooling the viewer that you are actually seeing real footage from the shaky grainy film stock used to capture real life evens of devastation to doctored footage to make it all fit into the mythos of the storyline. Edited together like a History Channel special, this all feels so real--it’s hard not to believe these events existed.

Even the sci fi effects feel authentic with all of the shaky and grainy camerawork. I especially loved watching the attacks of both the aliens and the giant machines which have a SKY CAPTAIN & THE WORLD OF TOMORROW look to them. Everything is treated with a serious and dire tone and there’s even a touching love story in the middle of it all as well to add an extra bit of depth that, coming from the narrator’s POV, will definitely make your heart swell.

WAR OF THE WORLDS: THE TRUE STORY is one of the coolest little films I’ve come across in quite a while. As if the Orson Welles radio broadcast wasn’t mythic enough, along comes this mock-doc to add a whole new layer of intrigue to H.G. Wells’ fascinating story. Highly recommended to those who love revisionist history, alien invasion films, and thrilling real life documentaries.

Advance Review: Debuts on SyFy this Thursday, July 11, at 9pm ET and on DVD & On Demand September 5th!

SHARKNADO (2013)

Dear god, I have gazed into the eye of the SHARKNADO and lived to tell the tale. You don’t really watch a film like SHARKNADO, you experience it. The phenomenon that is SHARKNADO is coming to ScyFy this Thursday. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I don’t know what kind of super brain think tank came up with the idea of a tornado which touches down in the ocean, sucking up a shitload of sharks and then heading inland towards LA to drop them off, but whoever did is either the smartest man on earth or the most idiotic. All form of reason is checked at the door with this film and if you’re willing to believe the completely insane premise, then for the most part you’ll be able to sit through the rest of the lunacy this film has to offer.

You will believe a shark can fly. You will believe a swimming pool can explode. You will believe a person can chainsaw a shark in half in one swing. You will believe a helicopter can fly close enough to a tornado to throw a bomb into it. You will believe a shotgun is the best tool for any problem. SHARKNADO is the type of film that is bound to hurt if you think about it too much, so please just turn off that space between your ears and enjoy it. I did and I enjoyed it just fine.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The genius of this film is in the concept of a tornado carrying sharks crashing through LA. The execution? About as great as one would expect from a ScyFy film. I don’t know why, but every one of these films feels like an episode of BAYWATCH with much time spent playing no name rock tunes as women run on the beach in bikinis, people toss Frisbees in the sand, and surfers skid across the waves in rad slo mo. I know ScyFy is trying to make it in the C-movie biz with all of these ridiculous films. If only the amount of attention was paid to the stories rather than the ridiculous titles, I know I’d be a big fan.

Instead we get an episode of BAYWATCH meets the monster of the week, with the part of David Hasselhoff played by former 90210 actor Ian Zering (who plays Fin a bartender and former surfing pro). Zering is decent and hammy in this role, and treating it as if it’s going to be his big break as an action star. Too bad the quality of the stunts and script just aren’t there to comply. Zering is accompanied by real BATWATCH star Jaason Simmons and HOME ALONE Dad, John Heard who is in danger of being typecast since he plays the same drunk here as he did in the recent WOULD YOU RATHER? (reviewed here), except this time he wields a mighty barstool as a weapon against the finned, flying beasties. The plot is tied together as Fin makes his way across LA to find his wife (Tara Reid), his daughter, and his son. The only thing in the way are three tornados carrying around whirling, chomping sharks.

The action is ludicrous. Sharks somehow maintain their composure in the cyclone enough to be able to fly like missiles toward people and still be chomping. These sharks want to eat everything in their path, except of course for Tara Reid who is made up of 90% Botox, silicone, and flavored schnapps. What’s even crazier is the way our heroes battle the sharks—by shooting them out of the sky and blowing up the tornado with homemade bombs tossed from helicopters. Again, trying to make sense of it all made my head hurt, so I just stopped trying half way through.

And when I did, I have to admit, I had a good time watching SHARKNADO. Though the story is lacking in punch to contend with the awesome title and the attempts at drama are downright laughable, I couldn’t help but marvel at the shark mayhem that occurs. Even the CG is a step in the right direction and you know what I mean if you’ve seen other ScyFy joints, with the sharks looking somewhat real rather than the cartoony CG we are usually subjected to.

There is going to be a huge portion of you who are going to hate SHARKNADO, but I felt it wasn’t as bad as some of the other ScyFy films that have been shat forth in the past. I love heady horror as much as the next ghoul, but sometimes the stupid stuff works and in this case, SHARKNADO, in all of its proud idiocy, does.

Unplug the brain pan and enjoy SHARKNADO this Thursday on ScyFy.

And yes, that’s a man flying right into the mouth of a shark with a chainsaw over there on the left. That shit really happens in this film.

And finally…this week we travel all the way to the snowy land of Norwegia (before you race to the talkbacks, I know it’s Norway, Norwegia is just more fun to say) for a series of shorts by some talented and twisted people. The first one is called THE INSANE MR. EMRICH. Enjoy this short from the HORROR BIZARRE series!